First Edition Gamma World: Session 2

The lay of the land surrounding the player’s base of Yam Town comes into one notch better focus:

Gordo is partying it down with representatives of the Last Remnants of civilization four days travel to the west. (Two through clear terrain and two through desert.)

There’s still some sort of gigantic mutant bug rampaging around in the forest three days march to the east.

The relatively friendly Comanche tribesmen (riders of the great mutant Percherons called the Brutorz) were last seen to the northwest. They’d been out of contact

A large group of the computer-worshipping Followers of the Voice were seen in the desert region to the southwest. According to Zed, many more were expected to be found in the vicinity South of there.

Session two begins on campaign day 5. The party relayed the events of last session to the chief, and a big celebration ensued as everyone eats up the delectables on the palette of foodstuffs given to the party in exchange for Gordo. Zed gives a speech where he talks about how all true men and women, heirs to the great civilization from before the big blow up, are all welcome to join with others of their kind. And for each one that comes back with him… the tribe will receive another loaded pallet of food just like the one they are feasting on!

A new player asks what the moon looks like. I say it’s totally green and connected to the earth now by a mass of vines that go all the way down into the continent-sized forest to the east. While the players debate their next move, four short hairy creatures show up and (after some miscommunication) end up demanding tribute. They have shields, swords, and wear chain mail– and the leader has some sort of pistol. They are both tough and rude… and are completely uninterested in the players’ offers of all the yams they can carry.

And then the pure strain human Harlan Slugton (played by Dan Wolfgang) impulsively swung his stone axe into the head of the leader of the short hairy guys. The players’ primitive weaponry was pretty futile against the creatures’ chain mail, but a new mutant named Bob (played by The Last Redoubt) launched himself into the fray, opening up his third eye to blast these guys with Intensity 9 radiation.

Note that this is one of the signature elements of the Gamma World game– so important it even has its own chart. Cross-referencing the target’s constitution of 13 to the radiation intensity level, I find out that two of these guys each take seven dice damage. They are killed in one shot… with only a “dying stroke” for their trouble.

The next round, the two surviving tribute-demanders head off into the forest to attempt to escape. There are several futile attempts to use primitive weaponry against these guys’ chain mail (mostly from Twitchy Henry, played by Brian Renninger.) Wilbur the two-headed pig man ends up creating an illusory chasm in front of them, so they turn to fight. The chase has gone on long enough that Bob gets to fire another radiation blast, taking out the opposing leader.

The party wrestles the lone survivor into submission and throws him into a wooden cage. Bob figures out the chain mail fits him perfectly. (Actually, it’s more of a chain mail dress on him.) He also finds an unusual black bracelet. They divide up the gold four ways, while bob figures out how to fire the pistol. Bob, Wilbur, Twitchy Henry, and Harlan Slugon all have swords now. They set the village craftsmen to the task of resizing the three remaining chain mail shirts into two larger items. (It will take them a week to do this.)

Both Bob and Harlan Slugton have taken 27 points of damage. We look up the rules on this and it turns out that they heal at a rate of one hit point per day of rest. They rest for two days… recovering a very little.

Bob figures out how to fire the pistol. It has two clips, but he has no idea how much ammo is in them. Then he takes a look at the bracelet and presses a button he finds on it. It glows red and he observes something approaching from the eastern sky. It’s some sort of weird ornithopter that starts circling Yam Town, blaring an important message: “Vote for Hari Seldon! The League of Free Men depends on you! Don’t be an Autonomist stooge! Take a stand for Freedom! A vote for Hari Seldon is a vote your continued well-being!”

Bob pushes the button again, and this thing seems to return where it came from. The players talk this over and decide to follow it back to wherever it hails from. They think it will take them to where the hairy guys demanding tribute are from.

The next morning Zed leaves the village with 15 pure strain humans. He promises to send back fifteen palettes of delectable foodstuffs. The players set off into the forest. They travel for three days before they hear this awesomely weird thumpity sound. They take cover and climb trees… and blowing past them are over twenty of the hairy creatures riding on the backs of giant rabbits.

Twitchy Henry teleports back to Yam Town to warn everyone. Wilbur, Bob, and Harlan Slugton blunder into some particularly dangerous vines. Wilbur backs away from them, but Bob and Harlan attack. Harlan does minimal damage, but Bob… he kills one of the weird plants with his Radiated Eyes. The vines pummel them to death and then drag them into their gaping maws. Only Wilbur lives to tell the tale!

(Note that one set of chain mail, two swords, four gold pieces, and one pistol was lost just that quickly. And for some reason Bob gave the black bracelet to Twitchy Henry earlier on…!)

The hairy guys are really peeved. They demand information on the location of their tax collectors. Twitchy Henry tries to intimidate them and the chief of Yam Town gives them back the hostage and begs for mercy. Twitchy Henry throws a spear at them and finally these guys have had enough. They burn down half the village and declare they will be back in a week to burn the rest if they don’t get their tribute! During the chaos, Twitchy Henry kills a giant rabbit with his spear. The hairy men scoop up the dismounted knight and the former hostage and disappear into the forest.

No idea what happens next!

—

Campaign log:

Days 1 and 2: Travel across clear terrain to the West. Encounter with a Sand Ert.

Days 3 and 4: Travel across desert terrain. Encounter with Baltar, Zed, and the last remnants of the True Men.

Days 5 and 6: Travel back across desert terrain. Group of 21 members of the Brotherhood of Thought sighted to the south.

This session, 35 experience was awarded to Wilbur and 47 to Twitchy Henry. Last session, Feric Helstrom earned 12 and Wilbur earned 50. Wilbur and Twitchy now have swords and will have some ugly chain mail in a couple of days. Wilbur also has a really cool cappuccino machine.